Will these network vultures ever stop picking the meat from the bones of the past? Hot off the news that NBC’s hopes to make a sitcom out of Cameron Crowe’s 1989 hit Say Anything… were dashed because the director responded, “Hell to the no,” is the report that ABC and Universal TV are bringing another 1989 classic back to the small screen in Uncle Buck. Starring John Candy, the movie told the heartwarming story of the titular relative who was forced to look after his brother’s kids after their grandfather had a heart attack. And despite the fact that an Uncle Buck series already failed miserably once before, it’s safe to assume that Universal won’t receive the same negative reaction over Uncle Buck that Crowe and John Cusack had for Say Anything…, what with Candy and John Hughes having gone on to that great studio in the sky.
Behind this latest adaptation is Will Packer of Will Packer Productions, according to Deadline, as the man who has helped bring us Ride Along, Think Like a Man and Think Like a Man, Too is teaming with Steven Cragg and Brian Bradley to tell the story of the uncle “who learns how to be an adult by taking care of his brother’s kids in a very childish way.” Cragg and Bradley previously worked together on some TV movies, as well as MADtv, so you know that this series will be referred to as a comedy.
Cynicism and questioning of each and every god aside, I can only hope that this new Uncle Buck series at least uses the 1990 series’ opening credits, because they are legendary.
